> All paper cups will be incinerated or sent to a landfill.
replyIs that surprising? Or "bad" somehow? Paper cups cannot realistically be recycled in any meaningful way. Paper is famously not waterproof, so cups are lined with either plastic or wax. This saturates the fibers in a way that cannot realistically be reversed. Such contaminated fibers can't be used as feedstock, the polymers mess up downstream processes.
The best possible outcome is biodegrading in compost or landfill. Which realistically releases almost as much CO2 as burning.
Wax lined paper cups will fully biodegrade on short timescales. That's literally the best possible outcome for any single-use item. It's not a flaw or a drawback, it's the goal.
The surprising and bad part is that Starbucks is making people think they are recycled so that they can get credit for helping the planet. They should be shamed into not claiming this if it isn't true.
replyThe study looks more like an advocacy stunt than a rigorous audit, but it still points at a real problem: recyclability labels often describe theoretical acceptance, not likely end fate
replyWe all know most of these wax paper and plastic Starbucks cups aren’t really recycled…it’s always been wish-cycled anyway :)
replyBurning paper is not the same as burning plastic.
replyand paper in a landfill is just fine.
replyCarbon negative, in fact!
replyI swear for a moment I thought you mean like putting paper in a soil/landfill, a tree will come up :)
reply> not actually recycled but turned into fossil fuels or feedstocks
replyThis is such a great claim.
Turning plastics back into their feedstocks is literally the most straightforward form of recycling.
replyYes, using some material once is worse than getting two uses out of it.
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